Because He's Kaitou Kid
by Yannami
Summary: MK. "Do you really think that an aquarium full of fish could stop him? HIM of all people!" "Inspector, you can't even identify which fish ate the gem. What makes you think Kid can?" "Simple. He's KAITOU KID!"—The Kid Task Force decides to place the thief's next target inside a fish. Need I say more?


**Because He's Kaitou Kid**

"This is stupid," a seventeen year-old brunette muttered in distaste. "I can't believe that people would cheer for that criminal. Right, Kai—_Kaito?_"

"Heh, heh," The said boy was glancing past her shoulder, staring straight into the newspaper in in her hands. He had a cheeky, smug grin splayed across his face as he read the headlines: Kaitou Kid Set to Steal Alexandrite Gemstone.

For a moment, it was silent as the wind gently ruffled the grass. Then, the girl frowned, fishing for something beside the riverbank. "JERKAITO!" she bellowed, mop suddenly at hand. Immediately, Kaito shot up like a rocket and dashed away from his childhood friend.

"How can you be like that? My dad is pouring his soul into this heist while that stupid thief laughs at him!" She continued to chase after Kaito, twirling the mop threateningly and with expert skills. "And here you are _rooting _for Kid!"

"Calm down, Aoko!" Kaito screeched in midair as the young girl's mop dashed dangerously beneath him. "It's just that Kid's so cool! And his magic tricks are amazing!"

"I'll curse him!" Aoko suddenly spat. She twirled around and crossed the riverbank. Kaito paused and stared at her back as she proceeded to hammer something into the bridge's wall using the rock. He cautiously followed and almost fell over when he found a pitiful stuffed toy wearing a very familiar top hat and a _very _familiar monocle. "For your heist tonight," Aoko grumbled, nailing the poor doll by the shoulders, "you are going to face your worst nightmare."

'Oi, oi, Aoko, don't jinx it,' the young boy thought apprehensively.

X…X…X

"INSPECTOR NAKAMORI!" a Task Force member screeched, running across the carpeted halls where two men were speaking by a rather large, luxurious door.

"What is it?" the younger of the two asked, narrowing his eyes at the flustered Task Force member. The latter crouched for a while, sweat running profusely down his helmet. Then he managed to say in between the gasps of breath, "T-t-the _Alexandrite_, sir! I-it was…"

"What about it?"

"T…t…xandrite…is…fish…"

"SPIT IT OUT!"

"A FISH ATE THE _ALEXANDRITE GEMSTONE, _SIR!"

The Inspector blinked and fell silent, along with everyone else in the room. For a while, no one spoke – not a sound in the air but the piercing hum of the wind.

Then out of nowhere, the old man whom the Inspector was speaking to let out a screech or mirth, bursting into a fit of wild, maniacal laughter. This old man was Jirokichi Suzuki, owner of the 'Alexandrite Gemstone'—the target of Kid's heist for that evening. Seeing him howl in joy after hearing about his precious gem's demise was enough to divert all of the attention to him.

"Uh…uncle? Are you okay?" his niece asked, looking genuinely concerned about her great uncle's sanity.

Jirokichi, with a wide twinkle in his eye, turned to the girl and beamed. "Of course I'm fine, Sonoko! I'm great!"

"Why the heck are you braying like a donkey?" she inquired, hands on her hips and eyes slitting in suspicion.

Turning to the crowd of dumbfounded officers, he said, "This little accident has given me a great idea! It's something that will add to the protection of my gem!"

Everyone responded by flinching back a bit, eyes widening. Added protection? If anything, he'd be lessening it. The mega sturdy bomb and card-proof glass container they've prepared for the upcoming Kid heist could only contain one little stone. It could barely fit two, much more an aquarium. The only solution they could think of now was to dissect the fish and pick the 'Alexandrite Gemstone' out of its stomach.

"Listen. In the number of years we've been coming after that accursed thief, we've been using vaults and locks. And in that number of years, Kid has continuously broken the code. I say we use this opportunity to fill a tank with fish similar to the one that has eaten the gem. This way, not even Kid could easily identify which fish the treasure is in. He'll have to stay in the room for a while, and there's a greater chance we could catch him."

There was another long pause in the room, wherein Nakamori found himself mentally listing down the many reasons _that_ was_ not _a good idea; _at all_. Because this is Kaitou Kid they were talking about; the international Phantom thief who could identify a real gem from a fake at a glance. He could open tricky safe boxes, avoid death traps, walk on air and vanish with theatrical grace. Nakamori, who has been chasing this thief for twenty years, doubts that a bundle of fat fish could stop him.

They need to add traps, a pass code…a cage. An open aquarium just wouldn't do.

"I doubt that that could stop Kid-sama," Jirokichi's niece huffed, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"True. This wouldn't do at all. Kaitou Kid is not someone to be taken lightly!" Nakamori stated.

"I am _not _taking him lightly!" Jirokichi yelled – the combination of his headstrong personality and ownership of the gem forcing everyone on the room to fall silent. "I want a huge aquarium in this room right now, and fish that look similar to the one that ate my gem! About a hundred of them. What kind of fish is it?"

"A koi, sir," the Task Force member replied, straightening up.

"I want a hundred Japanese koi and a wide aquarium that could fit them all in this room right now!"

"But that will not only make it easier for Kid to steal the gem; it will also make it harder for us to protect it when not even we know where it is!" Nakamori retorted. This only made the old man smirk. "You don't know where it is, Inspector Nakamori, so what makes you think that Kid would?"

"Because he's _Kid!"_

"And beneath that accursed costume, he's still flesh and blood. He could make mistakes."

They tried to ignore the niece's tut of protest.

Nakamori, knowing fully well that there was no way to get the "crazy old man" to adhere to his advice, frowned and tucked both hands beneath his grey slacks. "How did a fish manage to eat the gem anyway?" he murmured after a few seconds, silently cursing Jirokichi's excessive power.

The Task Force member who told the Inspector about the gemstone's unfortunate demise took a step forward. "While our security was transferring the Gemstone to the glass case, sir, the one holding it tripped. It fell straight into the fish aquarium, and before we could retrieve it, it was eaten."

"Well who was it that tripped?"

He looked down and scratched his nose. Then, he said softly, "that would be me, sir."

"Well the events sound probable," Nakamori sighed before suddenly dashing up to the policeman to pinch his face. Amidst the poor man's screams of pain, the Inspector said, "Still, we need to make sure that none of you is Kid!"

X…X…X

Later that evening, the front on the mansion where Kid claimed to be holding his heist in was overpopulated. Fans waved banners which screamed support. Off to the sides, there were stalls selling Kaitou Kid merchandise. Overall, it was loud. If Aoko wasn't so against the Kid, though, maybe she'd admit that his heists did hold a pleasant aura. If you ignore the fact that he's actually stealing things, it could pass for an entrancing magic show; if there was no stealing.

Amidst the packed sea of adoring Japanese civilians, Aoko and Keiko were at the front. The strong current that is the crowd had fortunately pushed them there so they could get a good view of the heist. This way Aoko could happily wave her anti-Kid banners and scream foulmouthed comments to her heart's content. Maybe he'd see her, and the thought of that was enough to bring a smile to her face. The fans, obviously, didn't appreciate Aoko's attitude towards the gentleman thief. She's been given dirty looks and a few eye rolls but this didn't stop her from continuously screaming, "KAITOU KID IS GOING DOWN!"

"Huh? Aoko, Kaito-kun is missing," Keiko gasped, eyes scanning the crowd.

Putting down her banner and allowing her voice to rest, Aoko sighed and knot her brows in annoyance. "Jerkaito really is an idiot – getting lost in this crowd like a child."

Suddenly, the clock tower flashed a number big enough for the entire town to see. Thirty seconds, it says, and soon, everyone was literally counting down the seconds until he came.

Meanwhile, inside the rather spacious room containing the precious gem, the Task Force crouched in anxiety, eyes alert, gas-masks on, and cheeks painfully red. The Inspector was watching the seconds tick by from his watch, his stomach clenching in anticipation.

Then, only five seconds remained.

Four…

Three…

Two…

All the lights suddenly turned off, and a choking smoke bomb engulfed the room with sleeping gas. Suddenly, Inspector Nakamori was screaming orders through his gas mask, his hand tightly clutching the shoulder-high fish aquarium. Then, they heard the window break.

"It's Kid!" a uniform from across the room yelled, and everyone was swiveling their heads towards the city lights, where a triangular speck of white soared through above. In the midst of his distraction, Nakamori felt something brush against his sleeve – as light as a feather. Then, he heard the violent splash of water, and a horrified, weeping gasp.

The gasp escalated into a terrified shriek which pierced the air like a knife. Nakamori fisted his hands so tight that the skin was white. _Shit, _he thought. _Holy crap! The Kid has escaped!_

When the lights finally clicked back on a good five seconds later, Nakamori and the rest of his men were on their heels, ready to bolt after the international thief in a white hand glider. That is, until they heard the hollow sound of cloth catching wind, and Nakamori saw a flash of white from his peripheral vision. "I-Inspector," a Task Force member whispered in astonishment. Nakamori followed his gaze. At the Kid.

Who was backed against a far corner of the room, eyes wide and face pale. He appeared to have fallen into an unflattering position – body splayed across the floor in uncharacteristic lameness, the half of his back hoisted awkwardly up the wall. His breathing was rigid, with some hints of whimpering and keening. Kid, Nakamori realized, was panicking. And this doesn't happen. Ever.

He could feel the shock ringing across his men – could feel it ringing up his own spine.

Torn between shock and wonder as he may be, however, he was still able to identify his priorities at hand. He nodded at his men, who despite the daze, managed to identify the command behind the look. Quickly, they surrounded Kaitou Kid, whose face was by then regaining its original color.

"We've got you this time, Kid!" Nakamori cried in wild giddiness. He could see the thief straightening up, analyzing the mess he has gotten himself into, before tipping his top hat down – tips of his sharp teeth glinting under the up-twisted lips.

"Not quite, I'm afraid," he said, a hint of Kid's cockiness slipping into his tone. The slightly shivering gloved hands, however, didn't exactly go over the Task Force's heads.

"GET 'IM!"

A lot of things happened very quickly after that. Nakamori's men hauled themselves into the air, set to tackle the thief to the ground. Kid, however, after swishing his cape in front of him – monocle glinting against the light – disappeared into a puff of smoke. The Task Force ended up becoming a rather cluttered pool of men on the floor, with no target to reach out for.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Jirokichi came striding in, rage and worry etched into his face.

"The Gemstone! My Gemstone!" he cried.

At that moment, a note came fluttering down from the space Kid had been hauled up against seconds ago. Nakamori caught it in an instant. His head rocked back and forth as he repeatedly read the thief's notice over and over again.

"He's coming back for it tomorrow," he said, more a breath than anything. Slowly, he and his men turned to the aquarium – safe and sound if not for the startled panic of fish going in different aimless directions. "What was that anyway?"

"Inspector…you don't think…" one of his men whispered. Nakamori pursed his lips for a while, his thoughts going haywire.

"There's no way that the Kid is afraid of fish, if that's what you're thinking. It must've been something else," he said. The man nodded his head in agreement. _There's just no way…_

Everyone was too busy coming up with theories; too busy thinking up of reasons Kaitou Kid would drop his poker face that they failed to notice one police officer standing by the corner, scratching his nose in annoyance.

"This is all Aoko's fault…"


End file.
